Snug Tight

What would you regard as snug tight?

Snug tight is defined by the AISC/RCSC as when all the plies in a connection have been pulled into firm contact by the bolts in the joint, and the bolts have been tightened sufficiently to prevent removal of the nuts without a wrench. They go onto say that this is typically achieved by a few impacts of an impact wrench, the application of an electric wrench until it begins to slow, or by the full effort of an ironworker with an ordinary spud wrench. Additionally, they admit that large or thick plies or those with large burrs or uneven areas may not be able to be pulled into firm contact, but that is not necessarily detrimental to the performance of that joint. So snug tight is a bit of a vague terminology. The AISC has tried to define it as best they can, but it does leave a bit of room for interpretation and may vary from application to application. Keep in mind, this applies to all steel connections only. If there are compressible materials in the joint (like gaskets or other flexible materials), then more application-specific evaluations should be performed.